1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to a bucket and more specifically, to an insert that is adapted to be inserted into a standard bucket or pail and to thereby adapt the bucket to advantageous uses such as by fisherman for containing and cooling bait, food and other items.
2. Prior Art
There are a number of U.S. patents which disclose bucket configurations for use by fisherman. By way of example, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,651,137 to Sweet, a bait bucket is disclosed having two interior contained buckets, one perforated and one solid. The perforated interior bucket is adapted to receive live bait in a water environment and the water is allowed to surround the enclosed wall interior bucket for cooling its contents which may be additional bait or other items. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,751,845 to Van Leeuwen, a fishing bucket is disclosed for containing minnows and which is covered by a lid over which is placed a generally crescent-shaped container which is adapted for containing food or beverages and over which is placed a sub-divided tray having a plurality of compartments containing various items of tackle such as hooks, sinkers and the like. A steel lid is placed over the tackle tray and is sub-divided into a plurality of compartments by means of a plurality of dividers to provide a sealing enclosure for the bucket. In addition, a crescent-shaped seat is placed over the lid and includes resilient cushioning material. U.S. Pat. No. 3,958,359 to Doughty discloses a sportman's combination recepticle and ice chest, and U.S. Pat. No. 2,797,525 to McCord discloses a tackle and bait carrier.
Unfortunately, none of the relevant prior art known to the applicant discloses an apparatus for use with standard, conventional buckets for converting same to advantageous use by fishermen for storing bait and other useful items. Furthermore, all such prior art is relatively difficult to manufacture and is therefore more costly. By way of example, the Sweet disclosure describes a bait bucket which requires a special outer bucket configuration as well as two specially manufactured interior buckets, one of which is perforated and one of which is not. As a consequence thereof, the outer bucket is non-standard and must be specially manufactured for the intended purpose and the inner buckets must also be specially manufactured and require costly hardware to secure them in proper relation to the exterior bucket.